[ad_1]
According to the latest ranking revealed by Henley & Partners for the 2023 Henley Passport Index, which ranks all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa, Singapore‘s passport has emerged as the strongest passport in the world.
Beating the likes of Japanese passport, who has been topping the ranking from last five years, the Singapore passport gives visa-free access to 192 travel destinations out of 227 destinations around the world. Japan has been knocked off to third spot as Germany, Italy and Spain move up to a joint second spot on the index with visa-free access to 190 destinations.
Japan joins six other nations — Austria, Finland, France, Luxembourg, South Korea, and Sweden — on the third place with access to 189 destinations without a prior visa. Whereas the Indian passport is ranked 80 this year after the country’s passport rank improved by five spots in comparison to last year.
The Henley Passport Index compares the visa-free access of 199 different passports to 227 travel destinations.
Afghanistan remains entrenched at the bottom of the Henley Passport Index, with a visa-free access score of just 27, followed by Iraq (score of 29), and Syria (score of 30) — the three weakest passports in the world.
The UK appears to have finally turned the corner after a six-year decline, jumping up two places on the latest ranking to 4th place — a position it last held in 2017. The US, on the other hand, continues its now decade-long slide down the index, plummeting a further two places to 8th spot with access to just 184 destinations visa-free. Both the UK and the US jointly held 1st place on the index nearly 10 years ago in 2014 but have been on a downward trajectory ever since.
The UN High-Level Forum, focusing on the tourism sector’s role in SDG acceleration, is scheduled this week at the UN headquarters. It holds significance for India’s Ministry of Tourism as discussions at the roundtable will also centre on the recently developed Goa Roadmap for Tourism. The high-level roundtable will involve ministers and leaders from the public and private sectors, including India’s Union Tourism Minister GK Reddy.
Commenting on the rankings, Dr Christian H Kaelin, Chairman, Henley & Partners and the inventor of the passport index concept, says only eight countries worldwide have less visa-free access today than they did a decade ago while others have been more successful in securing greater travel freedom for their citizens. “The UAE has added an impressive 107 destinations to its visa-free score since 2013, resulting in a massive leap of 44 places in the ranking over the past 10 years from 56th to 12th position. This is almost double the next biggest climber, Colombia, which has enjoyed a jump of 28 places in the ranking to sit in 37th spot. Ukraine and China are also among the Top 10 countries with the most improved rankings over the past decade. Far more than just a travel document that defines our freedom of movement, a strong passport also provides significant financial freedoms in terms of international investment and business opportunities. Global connectivity and access have become indispensable features of wealth creation and preservation, and its value will only grow as geopolitical volatility and regional instability increase,” he said.
The Top ‘most open’ countries in the world, which offer visa-free or visa-on-arrival entry to all 198 passports in the world (not counting their own), are: Burundi, Comoro Islands, Djibouti, Guinea-Bissau, Maldives, Micronesia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Samoa, Seychelles, Timor-Leste, and Tuvalu.
India ranks among the bottom of the Henley Openness Index with visa-free access to fewer than five other nationalities.
[ad_2]
Source link
